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Pinstripe Bowl: Frequently Asked Questions

Why this bowl is not sponsored by Jerry Seinfeld is beyond us. "It's football! In a baseball stadium! Can you believe this? Laugh! LAUGH, DAMN YOU." (AP)

The 2012 Pinstripe Bowl is just hours away. We’re sure you have so many questions. We’re here to help. (For an X's and O's breakdown, click through to Gabriel Baumgaertner's game preview.)

• What's all this, then? As we said in 2011: "Last year, football games at Yankee Stadium were a new and much be-hyped thing. This year it’s just a field mashed into a baseball diamond, hype not included. But to be fair, as football games in baseball diamonds go, this still beats that infamously cramped Northwestern-Illinois game at Wrigley Field, correct? Correct."

• Where will this game be played? Yankee Stadium, which we're told is in New York and houses some sort of baseball team when it is not 20 degrees outside.

• When is it on television? Coverage begins at 3:15 p.m. ET on ESPN, with streaming viewing available on WatchESPN, and will feature Chris Fowler, Jesse Palmer and Tom Rinaldi. We missed you, Chris Fowler. Never leave us again. Enjoy him while you can; this is the only postseason play-by-play assignment currently listed for Fowler.

• Whom does it feature? Current tie-ins throughout the bowl's two-year history include the Big 12 and Big East.

• What about this year? Former Big East conference-mates West Virginia and Syracuse square off from opposite conferences.

• What wacky activities will be on offer during bowl week? Does playing football on a baseball diamond count? It's not what the stadium was built for! Isn't that wacky? Hello?

• What shiny baubles will be showered on the players? The Pinstripe is one of those games that won't tell anybody what gifts the players are getting. Yankees season tickets are nothing to be ashamed of! Right?

• What's the pick?Stewart Mandel: "Amazingly, the first team All-America quarterback in this game is not Mountaineers star Geno Smith, but Pro Football Weekly selection Ryan Nassib (3,619 yards, 24 touchdowns, nine interceptions). The Orange's touted draft prospect should have a field day against the nation's 119th-rated pass efficiency defense, as the Orange will outlast Smith, Tavon Austin and Co."